Explore Quotes by Jeff Daniels

I have done all of the genres, and the dramatic role is my favorite.

Regardless of the fact that in this country, certainly in the arts, we treat comedy as a second-class citizen, I've never thought of it that way. I've always thought it to be important. The last time I looked, the Greeks were holding up two masks. I've always thought of it not only as having equal value, but as the craft of it, being funny.

I never said, 'I'm going to be a big star.' I said, 'I'm going to be a good actor.' And that took the pressure off.

I love living in Michigan, which has been great for my kids and my family.

I was haunted by trainers going "Up, up, up, get up." You find yourself picking your head up and then realizing, They aren't talking to me.

On cable now, the writer is king. Any actor chases that.

Comedy is hard to do. All the cliches about it are true.

I'm the guy to call. Look at the resume. I have kids of my own. I have dogs.

I think Michigan keeps you sane and on an even keel through the ups and downs. In Michigan, I do fireworks, shovel snow and live life.

There's not a single job in this town. There's nothin', nada, zip. Unless you wanna workforty hours a week.

And that's one thing that helps me is I learn it blandly, vanilla, then I don't try to act it too soon because you start to act it, and you kind of go away from what the next sentence is, what the next paragraph is. So get it down so it kind of can - it's in there so you can then, as I call it, dance on top of it.

I know there are people, if I go into a market or a city for the first time, there are people that are there that just want to see the famous person, or the guy from 'Dumb and Dumber' or whatever movie they liked. And that's fine, it gets them in the door, but then it's my job to give them something different.

As an actor, you're always at the service of somebody else's vision. In a play, it's more of the director's vision, and he or she's got their hands on you all the way up to opening night, and if it's a film, there are even more people.

I think it's a style of acting that you trust. You trust the instincts.

I never starved. And you know, whatever talent I have, I've relied on that, versus image or star. I have just said, 'Hire me if you want somebody good.' I tried to be as good as I could be every time out, and that's kind of bridged the decades.

Are we just pretending to be unhappy so that we can add drama to our lives, so that we seem more substantial?

Everything’s a story, kid. Stories are what help us make sense of the world.

And the actors tend not to want to watch themselves very often. I'm one of those guys.